In accordance with prophecy, Kentucky turned over their entire roster. Five players from last season were drafted into the NBA, while a 6th - shooting guard Darnell Dodson - was dismissed from the team. (He then promptly got arrested for disorderly conduct and transferred to Southern Mississippi, which will be his fourth team in four seasons.) Perry Stevenson and Ramon Harris graduated and turned professional, and therefore, the only returning players were Darius Miller, DeAndre Liggins, Josh Harrellson and Jon Hood. Only the first two played significant minutes last season. It was, by and large, a complete reformation.

Of course, while a lot of talent went out, a lot more came in. Freshman Terrence Jones, Brandon Knight and Doron Lamb form arguably the best freshman trio in the nation, rivalled only by perhaps that of Ohio State. (Stacey Poole, another top 100 recruit, has played only 45 minutes all season. Not a good freshman season for Stacey Poole.)

Knight is a terrific scoring guard, in the mold of those such as Ben Gordon or Jason Terry. He's not really a point guard - he gets the ball over half court, makes the first pass, can find people in transition, and that's about it. Yet when it comes to scoring, he can do it all - driving, finishing, shooting, and creating shots. Much the same is true of Lamb, a born scorer way ahead of the usual freshman curve. Lamb scores from the perimeter, the mid-range and within the paint, all with startling efficiency. He is athletic, fluid, just about big enough, disciplined and agile, with the ability to create shots, hit open ones, run the court and get to the basket. He has a mid-range game, doesn't take bad shots, and doesn't make too many bad decisions. Furthermore, to compliment that, he has improved his defense significantly throughout the course of the season. He has real pro potential.

Pick 8: Detroit, who have been mismanaged in pretty much every conceivable way for a couple of years now, catch a break. Brandon Knight, the next Jason Terry, has fallen to them in a way that they probably did not expect, and they snap him up. Knight's presence in an already crowded backcourt serves only to further confuse the issue, but this would have been the case no matter who they drafted. Right now, nobody is a good fit in Detroit.

I wonder if they still have Brevin Knight's draft name board thing to recycle for Brandon. It has happened before, when Alade Aminu's (unused) board was salvaged for Al-Farouq Aminu the following season. If 22 of 30 NBA teams really were losing money, you would think that these kind of austerity measures would be in force. The financial crunch has already seen Mark Jones lose his chair for the evening. If they kept Kenny Walker's for Kemba, even better.

(The "B. Biyombo" one can probably be eBayed.)

In his one minute round-up of Knight's abilities, Jay Bilas calls him "good" ten times, and a "guy" five times.

Brandon Knight - The second best guard in the draft, and quite possibly the third overall pick in it, has the upside of Jason Terry. For whatever reason, this is often assumed as a bad thing, despite the fact that Jason Terry just won a ring as the second or third best player on an NBA championship winning team, averages 16 and 5 for his career, and is amongst the all-time leaders in three point shooting. If Brandon Knight were to develop into anything like Jason Terry - specifically a Mavs-era Terry, but a Hawks-era Terry would do too - then what's not to like?

Not a good season in which he lost his starting role, played far fewer minutes than last season, shot poorly and then got shut down early. He is surplus to requirements, particularly with Josh Jackson coming in on the wing, yet his large contract will make him very difficult to move, especially with his diminishing returns on the court. If Knight has to fight Barbosa for the Barbosa-esque role next season, that would be quite a sunk cost - get him back in the rotation instead, redeem enough value to at least make him movable (if not movable for quality), and take the smaller L.

Player Plan: Three years and circa $44 million remaining, with no options. Considering he is being pushed out of a spot on this time, it would be nice to get something for him. But considering that cost, it is not likely. Without knowing the trade market for him, I imagine there pretty much isn’t one and he returns with the hope of rebuilding his value.

Note: Non-US teams that the player
has played for are, unless stated otherwise, from the top division in
that nation. If a league or division name is expressly stated, it's not
the top division. The only exceptions to this are the rare occasions where
no one league is said to be above the other, such as with the JBL/BJ League
split in Japan.

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